Apple is re-thinking folders, now

When you think of the concept of a computer, what is the first function you think of? For many at least, it is the file system.

For this reason, the lack of such on iOS devices have perplexed me for as long as I’ve used these devices. I’ve done several concept sketches and UI mock-ups of “finder for iOS”, without landing on something good enough to put out there. But yesterday, as I read Oliver Lichtenstein’s thoughts and saw apple’s new OS, it dawned on me. Apple was way ahead of us in that they want to shift the entire paradigm of file handling on computers right under our noses.

In case you haven’t seen it, Apple’s new OSX basically wants us to use folder structures no more than one level deep. Say what? Yeah, really. But as you understand how it will be used, it actually makes a lot of sense, at least for the not-too-nerdy part of the user base. Basically, the human brain sucks at managing complex folder-in-folder structures to begin with, but somehow we’ve been stuck like this since forever. Apple’s hope is that in ten years, we’ll look at these folder-in-folder structures we have today like we now look at command-line computer use from before the graphical user interface was born.

Only time will tell if this new way of thinking about information management really sticks. But I bet you and I both get a special look on our faces when we say “I should really sort out all those folders today”.